Ch. 3 Back to normal

Three days had passed since the day

Akash killed the barren giant.He woke up at 5 A.m. to the sound of his alarm and quickly went to freshen up,getting ready for his morning run.He wore a blue tracksuit quickly and by the time he was done getting ready the clock had reached 5:30.He kept his yoga mat in a bag and left it at the main gate.He went to the living room and searched the cabinet for the key to the house.He opened the lock and placed the key back from where he took it.

He then went to his sister's room to wake her up so that she could close the door.He said while shaking her,"Hey!...Sis!.Wake up,wake up.Come close the door quick or I'll be late and my spot will be taken.Hey! don't go back to sleeping again.Come close the door."

She opened her eyes drowsily and woke up with a start after being shaken.She reluctantly went to close the door from inside while grumbling that he was at his old game again.He would at first be all pumped up and filled with resolve to change his lifestyle to a healthier one but after experiencing hardship for a day or two will go back to being like a sloth,lying around lazily on the bed, refusing doing any chores, wanting to spend time in leisure.Akash ignored her grumbling and quickly moved past the gate and after watching her close the door properly,he left towards DDA park.

The park was quite close to his home with about 1.5 Km between both of them,just the right distance for a light morning jog.He had started to like jogging in the morning.Breathing fresh air in the morning felt good and it felt particularly nice when the cold breeze caressed the face.He felt like he could concentrate much better than normal in such an environment.The areas he passed by on the route to the park were very different from 2 years ago when he used to go to the park with his cousin.Almost everything had changed except a few familiar places.The shop which used to be a fast food store had changed into a general store.The black coloured dog that barked at everyone from the balcony of a house was no longer there.Akash heaved a sigh when he couldn't find all the sights familiar to him but at least the temple of goddess Durga was still there.Akash held his hands together to pray before continuing his jog towards the park.

It was at 6 that he reached the park.A lot of people had gathered by then and they had started doing yoga.Akash took out his yoga mat and joined the others in doing yoga.

Yoga was the excercise he had decided on in the end after researching various activities as he felt that it led to the best possible all around development of the body that he found necessary to improve health.Yoga was a gem that was perfected by sadhus in ancient India and could be described as a healthy way of life.Yoga could induce the harmony of body,mind and spirit.Yoga can lessen chronic pains like lower back pain, arthritis,headaches and carpal tunnel syndrome.It can also lower blood pressure and reduces insomnia,a cause of concern for the former night owl,Akash.It improves the flexibility of the body,reduces weight,increases muscle strength and tone,improves respiration,energy and vitality,maintains balanced metabolism,boosts immune system,improves athletic performance,cardio and circulatory health and the best of all...it helps in managing stress.

As 2020 had turned into a year of calimities there was no lack of people suffering from stress.After all,it was really difficult to stay calm when the whole world had turned into a disaster zone.Even though monster emergence had dwindled through the days,no one knew of their origin even now.Everyone felt scared at the way they inexplicably appeared in the cities.Their dead bodies were being researched on but no news had been released regarding any research results.Akash already had a feeling that the somewhat mystical appearance of monsters in little amounts was not the end.

Akash started with surya namaskar and then switched to tadasan, chakrasan, ardhmatsyendrasan and halasan.He switched between various asanas until about an hour and a half had passed.By the time he had finished,beads of sweat were flowing from his forehead.He felt great even though he was exhausted.He didn't talk with anyone other than greeting everyone when he came.He wasn't familiar with anyone there and thus as per his usual conventions,he left quickly after finishing his exercise.He went back home jogging and rang the bell.

His elder brother opened the door for him and then left for the kitchen.From the looks of it he had woken up not much earlier.He was named Vivek.He was as much of a night owl as Akash,only difference being that he did it for work instead of a hobby.Vivek had started website development early on as a side job while he continued higher studies.

Akash quickly went towards the kitchen to find out what the breakfast was for that day.He found poha(a dish commonly eaten during breakfast in India) in a bowl.He took his share and went to the room to eat.

He looked for news on the computer for any updates regarding the monsters but he found no updates.

He then spent some time reading spiritual scriptures like Bhagavad Gita and Vedas for self fulfillment.He found that reading these scriptures helped him greatly.He felt like his soul was being cleaned by reading such scriptures.Some quotes which he felt that had a great impact on him were:

"You are what you believe in. You become that which you believe you can become."

"Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is."

"It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection."

These quotes motivated him that if he believed,he could change from his lazy lifestyle to a healthy one,that he could be more than a burden on his parents,a liability to society.Even though he had not seen much of the world,novels did display plenty cruel and heartless depictions of reality.He knew that even though reality was not as extreme as depicted in novels,there was still no difference in the way it worked.He knew that with his introverted nature and lack of confidence that if he didn't change he would have difficulty achieving an average quality of life as he was not exceptional at anything.He had already lost hope after failing at changing many times in the past.Hesitation always took grip on him if he tried doing something new and after sometime he was back to square one being his lazy old self.But now he had confidence that he could change...that he would change.

Akash felt both sad and guilty as he felt that if he had warned the school guard instead of hiding quickly like a tortoise in the generator room his life could have been saved.After all,the only reason the guard came to check the school from his post beside the school gate was because the sounds that came when Akash blinded the barren giant.If Akash had taken the slightest risk perhaps nothing would have happened to the guard.

Akash was torn by such feelings of guilt but another quote from gita comforted him.

"The embodied soul is eternal in existence, indestructible, and infinite, only the material body is factually perishable."

When Akash felt worried regarding his future and the safety of his family, he always felt like he was at an impasse.He knew he was still too small to worry about his future and that he would still have the support of his family no matter what, he didn't want anyone to go through difficulties for his sake.He found his path as he learnt from Bhagavad Gita.

"Whatever happened was good,

What is happening is going well,

Whatever will happen will also be good.

You need not have regards from the past.

Don't worry for the future.

Live in the present"

He didn't stop reading webnovels completely but still restricted the time he spent doing so.He spent time studying as the expected date for board exams according to conventions was coming closer but he had no idea when they will take place or if they will take place or not.His school was already closed till further notice because of the monster incident.So he decided to study on his own so that he would be ready by the time the exams take place.He went back to sleep at 2p.m. to provide rest to the body, even though it was already considerably stronger compared to the past due to the three stat points.

Akash closed his eyes and slowly drifted to sleep.The dream of himself as a lizard like creature came back after two days.He felt a bit different this time he entered this dream.He felt that his perception regarding what the lizard like creature felt had gotten much stronger compared to before.Previously even though he felt the movements of the lizard like creature,he couldn't actively follow them or understand how it moved properly.But now he felt that he could see how the centre of gravity of the lizard like creature changed throughout its movements and how it exerted force with better clarity.The scene of the dream was different yet the same,as even though he could make sense that the lizard was in a different region from previous regions, there wasn't much difference.This time the lizard like creature was fighting a giant grey coloured wolf pack leader instead of blue like previous one even though the size was the same.Akash could hear the various sound from both the lizard like creature and the weird wolf but strangely he just couldn't understand what they were speaking.It was like watching a movie without sound or subtitles.Even though he felt excited that he could use and learn techniques of using the spear adeptly from the lizard, he also felt frustrated at not being able to find out what they were talking about as he had the feeling that if he could understand their conversation it would have a positive impact on his future life but there was nothing he could do except watching and feeling the shifting force in the muscles of the lizardman, watching as it slayed the pack of wolves one by one while dodging attacks of over 30 wolves.Akash was sure by the impacts made by the wolves that if he hid in a car to escape from them, even one of them might be enough to tear both the car and him apart.Akash watched with fascination as the lizard like creature dodged each attack of the wolves as if he was a dancing with them and dealt with all of them without breaking a sweat.The moves of the lizard were clean and crisp without the slightest delay and with a perfect timing as if he was in control throughout the fight.The only problem Akash had after watching the fight was that this time the lizard like creature had also used its tail during the attacks which was not replicable for him.He found out that learning by replicating the spear moves of the lizard was not an option for him as they had different body structures and thus he would have to change the spear techniques into one more suited for him.This pack of wolves did not seem to have a leader as strong as the one present in his previous dream.That wolve had materialised something like a wind blade at its claws, a trait that differentiated it from the other wolves but the pack leader in this dream was not much different compared to normal wolves other than appearing a bit bigger and more ferocious compared to other wolves.As such the fight came to an end very fast as there was a large disparity in strength between the grey wolf pack leader and lizard like creature and the lizard won in a very brief period of time.